When Worlds Merge
by PsychSoul
Summary: When two realms inhabited by spiritually powerful beings meet... what kind of dangers shall be unleashed? Takes place after Soul Eater and just before Ichigo and his friends invade Hueco Mundo to save Orihime from Aizen (before Ichigo's epic fight w/ Ulquiorra).
1. Prologue

Prologue

-The Soul Society: Squad 12 Department of Research and Development Barracks: Captain Kurotsuchi-

"I have only one question. Why have you dragged my lieutenant and I out here for your crazy science experiment, Mayuri? You're going to do what you want but I don't want to get in trouble because of your recklessness." Byakuya's tone was flat and unamused, "Head Captain Yamamoto even said you were not permitted to conduct this operation." These words echoed into the seemingly endless expanse that housed the Soul Society's database computers.

"Bah! To hell with what he said! What head captain doesn't know won't hurt him, will it, Byakuya?" An almost sinister smile spread over the face of this oddly tempered captain. "Just imagine if this were to go as planned! The applications for this kind of technology are virtually endless!" He threw his hands into the air as he said this! "And you're here in case anything goes astray."

"Captain." piped a smooth voice, "I know that I'm your subordinate, but, for the sake of your own safety as well as the entire Soul Society, I feel that I must advise you against conducting this experiment." Nemu Kurotsuchi, the twelfth captain's lieutenant, was standing behind him with her hand on his shoulder, so as to coax him out of this.

"You're lieutenant is right, Captain Kurotsuchi. What if this ends in disaster?! I mean, you even said that you've never observed something like this before! How do you know it's not dangerous?!" Renji Abarai, Byakuya's lieutenant, spoke from behind his captain.

"Even if this is a new phenomenon, who says it's dangerous?! The dangai precipice world is always unstable, so a hole in it's space time fabric really isn't that abnormal. Plus, with my new Reshi Resonator I should be able to control the tear and use it to form portals to other places in time and space! Maybe even entirely new dimensions!"

"This is absurd!" Byakuya stated. "Isn't that what the senkaimon is for, to travel to other dimensions?"

"Yes," replied Mayuri. "But the senkaimon is limited to only the world of the living. This however, if I could gain control of it, could provide us with potentially limitless realities to be accessed!"

"I think I've heard enough." said Renji. "This is gonna end horribly. I can already tell. What do you think, Captain?"

"I've heard enough as well. I have more pressing matters to attend to, anyway. Let's go, Renji."

"Right."

They appeared to vanish into thin air with shunpo.

"DAMMIT!!!" Mayuri slammed his fist onto the piano like computer keys which echoed and made the wall-sized monitor dart between a few menus. "Rhghggggg! I almost had them! How does no one see that this could become a grand breakthrough?!"

"Um.. Captain?" Nemu timidly inquired. "You haven't talked to everyone about help with this.. There's still-"

"NEMU!!!" snapped the captain. "You know damn well how I feel about that barbarian! 'She's right though. He's the last one I haven't asked.' Arhghgg…! FINE! Fetch him for me!"

"Yes, Captain." Nemu flash stepped away, leaving Mayuri alone with his thoughts.

'Why are people so afraid of this? I didn't even finish giving Head Captain my report on this and he silenced me as though he already knew what it was! Those fools! This could completely make us gods! Although… Ah… Maybe this is dangerous. It is a hole in spacetime fabric afterall. It could lead to the complete obliteration of the universe if we're not careful. But if it's a success...'

After a few minutes of silence, Nemu returned with the infamous captain of the eleventh squad, Kenpachi Zaraki, and his seemingly innocent lieutenant, Yachiru Kusajishi, at her side.

"Alright, what do you want you science freak?" Kenpachi's tone was dull and angered. "I was just about to lay Yumichika flat out for bugging me while sleeping so this better be good!" His tall built figure, tattered captain's kimono, along with his wildly spiky hair gave him a lethal appearance.

"Yeah!" squeaked his tiny pink haired lieutenant. "Kenny was about to have some fun! So this better be good!"

Kurotsuchi was already in a steamed state so he understood how Kenpachi must have felt. "As you may remember, Captain Barbar- *Ahem*… Zaraki, from the captains meeting earlier this evening that I gave, well, half of a report on this." He began to clear the pointless menus brought up earlier from slamming the computer to reveal a video clip of a warping and throbbing orb of energy.

"Yeah, the space time thing you said you recently detected. What about it?" He looked bored.

"Head Captain stopped me before I could explain the juicy details of this wild happening. Would you care to hear?" Another wicked smile.

Kenpachi glared at the twelfth captain with suspicion. "Um… Sure?"

Kurotsuchi laughed. "Good! This won't take too long!"


	2. Pure Terror

Note: Sorry for my extreme wordiness...that's something I need to work on. And feel free to critique! Other than that, enjoy!!! :D

Chapter One

Pure Terror

-Karakura Town: Kurosaki Clinic, Ichigo's bedroom: Ichigo-

"Hey Rukia! Wake up!" Ichigo began knocking on his closet door in an attempt to wake up the short, shinigami that was his roommate. "Yuzu said her favorite shirt is missing. Did you take it again? Plus if you don't get up now you'll be late for school..! Rukia?" Ichigo had had to do this every morning before school, but thought nothing of it. At this point, it was practically routine.

"Why is she in your closet?" Ichigo looked to his right to see his younger sister, Karin, Yuzu's twin sister, standing at the corner. "Dad gave her the guest room. So why is she in your room? Your closet of all places?" Her expression was nothing short of confusion.

"I don't know. She does this constantly and it pisses me off. I've been late for school almost five times because of this! She can be a real pain in the ass sometimes…" The frustration in Ichigo's voice was prominent.

"Well if it bothers you, tell her. Letting her do this isn't going to solve anyth-"

"Karin? What're you doing in Ichigo's room?" Yuzu, the black haired girl's twin walked into the room and poked her head around the corner to see what Karin was looking at. "Oh, hey Ichigo! You're up early as always! I'm gonna cook breakfast soon so you two should come down to the kitchen when you're ready, okay?" A big smile sprawled out onto the girl's face.

"Sure thing, Yuzu! I'll be down in a bit." Ichigo responded. "I just gotta wake Rukia up. YOU IN THERE, RUKIA?! FOODS GONNA BE READY SOON!" He had begun to bang on the closet door this time, yet she had not responded. "What the hell?"

"What are you making, Yuzu?" asked Karin. "It better not be anymore of that weird stuff Orihime gave us. I almost threw up because of it… By the way, what was that stuff?"

"Oh, I don't know just yet, I still haven't even started preparing anything! And that food Orihime gave us? I think she said something about a steak dipped in pancake batter with onions mixed in?" Yuzu hadn't thought about it, but Orihime did make some pretty weird and gross food.

"Gross. That's what that was? Dad wouldn't even eat it and he eats everything!" Ichigo said this as he went over to his bed and picked up his bag of school supplies. He had given up on trying to drag Rukia out of her cave of solitude. "Well if she wants to take her time then she can be late if she wants. It's not my problem. I'm gonna be late for school if I don't go now, so I'll just eat the leftovers when I get home okay, Yuzu?" Starting toward his bedroom door, Ichigo patted Karin and Yuzu on their heads and walked out with little else to say. "Make sure you guys get to school on time okay? We don't want a repeat of last week…"

Karin and Yuzu followed Ichigo to the front door to say their farewells.

"Bye Ichigo! See you after school!" the girls called in unison as they smiled and waved goodbye to their older brother! He disappeared behind a building.

Poorly dressed in his school uniform, Ichigo followed the sidewalk in the direction that lead to his school. His lava orange hair appeared to burn in the morning sunlight, giving him a slightly intimidating, and certainly outlandish appearance. His thoughts during these morning walks normally consisted of nothing too interesting other than the occasional thought that a hollow could be lurking anywhere at any moment. This time, though, he couldn't seem to get his mind off of the weird feeling he had in his stomach. This was a normal thing for Rukia to do, however, she would at least answer and tell him to leave her alone. She did it almost every morning, but he could feel in his bones that something was wrong. Why hadn't she answered him? Why didn't she just tell him to leave her alone like she normally did? He would have opened the closet door to check on her, but last time he did that she was changing and was in nothing but her underwear and Rukia had "rewarded" him with a face full of hado. This was the first time that Rukia had said nothing… and it didn't settle with him.

'What the hell's going on? Why didn't she answer me?' He couldn't take this anymore! Instead of continuing to walk to school, Ichigo turned around and started walking back home. This was something that, for whatever reason, got on every single one of his nerves! He needed to check to see if she was there!

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Ichigo finally arrived back at his neighborhood, but… something was off… The energy about it had gone from homey to malicious, almost as though he could sense a serial killer lurking nearby. Wait… what was happening? Ichigo began to notice that the world around him began to change! The sky, which was still orange with the morning sunrise quickly became saturated with a thick blood red that darkened into an almost black liquid, still glossy with a pungent red! Ichigo's heart leapt into his throat at this sight!

"Wh-what's happening?! Instead of dying into silence, these words echoed into the world! Ichigo noticed that they seemed to have almost a dual sound to them, as though two people were speaking at once. This terrified him! It sounded like his inner hollow was speaking as well. Something was wrong with his mind! He didn't feel right at all!

"AHHHHHHHH WHAT IS THIS?!?!" inside his head, Ichigo could hear his inner hollow screaming in what sounded like fear! "NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

His feet felt cold… and wet. Ichigo looked down to see that he was standing in the dark, glossy red liquid that the sky had turned into. It was covering his shoes and was up to his ankles.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!?! STAY AWAY!" the pure terror that was in Hichigo's voice echoed in Ichigo's own mind! "GET OFF OF ME! LEAVE ME AL- AGHHGUHGH!" he sounded as though he was drowning! After that… silence of the mind. Ichigo heard nothing more.

This was all happening too quickly! Ichigo's ability to react to anything had been taken away from him! His body was paralyzed with terror! He was still looking down. The dark ink like liquid had risen from his ankles and was now halfway up his shins!

His fight or flight response had been kicked into full gear! Now ready to run for the front door, Ichigo looked around briefly to hopefully get a better understanding of what was happening! What he saw ripped all light hearted feelings from his body! The world had grown dim and was tinted a sinister redish pink! All objects had a grainy deep red texture throbbing across their surfaces! The edges of objects became highlighted with electrical red energy! The liquid that filled the sky was oozing towards the ground in pillars of varying width! One of which was right next to him and was about as wide as captain Komamura.

Ichigo broke his terrified gaze at the world and turned to start heading for his front door. As he began to move he noticed that the liquid was a lot thicker than he had thought! It was like moving through syrupy blood!

Once he got out of the liquid, Ichigo began to run! As his foot made contact with the first square of sidewalk in his yard, the world in front of him stretched away, expanding the yard and taking the house with it!

"Oh fuck!" Ichigo said to himself! He didn't stop to analyze the situation, he just kept running knowing that what was going on filled his soul with pure and utter fear! Never before had Ichigo been this scared! Not even when he had fought against Kenpachi when he first invaded the Soul Society to save Rukia!

Over the sound of his footsteps echoing in this darkened world, Ichigo began to hear something. It was faint but it was getting louder. The sounds made Ichigo sick as he figured out what they were! It sounded like screams… and bones breaking… It was people being tortured!

"I DON'T DES-" *crak* "AHHHGHUHHG! I DON'T DESERVE THIS!!!!! FORGIVE MEEEEEEE!" an old man yelled so loud Ichigo thought he would have ripped his vocal chords!

"I WAN'T MY BABY! WHERE'S MY BABY?! ALICE?! WHERE ARE YOU HONEY?!" a younger woman could be heard crying!

"YOU LIED TO ME! YOU NEVER LOVED ME! THAT'S ALL I WANTED!" this voice was demonic and made Ichigo run even faster! The sounds of anguish never stopped! Endless people could be heard screaming, crying, yelling, begging, apologizing and wallowing!

Ichigo's body had slowly began to weaken! Being slaves to gravity, his legs bent under his body weight and brought him to his knees, his hands on the ground so as to keep him up.

The warping and throbbing sidewalk was now surrounded by the dark red liquid like a dock in a lake! The screams still echoing… getting louder… filling his head! "RUKIAAAA!" he called out in fear! He had begun to cry at this point! Looking around, hyperventilating, he noticed that the dark liquid was rising in some areas to create what looked like people from the ribs up! They looked as though they were trying to escape from the liquid!

A voice… a familiar voice to Ichigo yelled, "Orihime? Wh-what are you… NO! NO DO-" *slice* Blood splattered onto Ichigo, almost completely covering his right side! He drew his attention there and time literally slowed as his eyes took in the horrific sight! Amongst all the dark red liquid was a bright, fully colored Rukia that had been cut in half! Her upper half was flying toward Ichigo, as her lower half slowly fell into the liquid! All sound fell away from the world as Ichigo's brown eyes met Rukia's violet eyes…. He saw her lips move, as if she was speaking.

"This is the end for me… Goodbye my dear friend." her eyes were welling up with tears, "I've always loved you! And you never saw it." she giggled, "You're such a fool. But perhaps that's why I fell for you…" her upper half was still headed for Ichigo, "Tell Byakuya that I didn't die for no reason. The last thing I'd want him to think was that I just let myself get killed for no good purpose" for what seemed like an eternity, there was only silence between the two. "Again… I love you Ichigo! Don't forget that!" with those being her final words, Ichigo's vision pulsed and he saw double for a moment. When the two visions came back together, time sped back up and Rukia's upper half flew into Ichigo and knocked him over into the liquid along with Rukia's lower half.

The liquid was so cold it petrified him which made Ichigo realize that he had been sweating before he fell in! Silence.

After a bit of sinking into the liquid, a dark comfort fell over Ichigo and he slipped into unconsciousness. He awoke as a hole dumped him and a bathtub worth of red liquid into what looked like his kitchen.

Gasping for air and shivering, he crawled over to the nearest wall and sat against it. He looked around, hyperventilating! His clothes were soaked and stained an almost black red. The world had returned to normal! This was his house! A sense of calm washed over him knowing that he was back in his own home. He looked back over to where the hole had opened up in the ceiling. It had closed but left a crack and was now slightly oozing the liquid.

"Come sit down Ichigo." said a creepily flat voice. It sounded like Karin. Ichigo got up and walked to the living room to see who had spoken. As he rounded the corner, Ichigo saw that the TV was on but it was just black and red static. Sitting in front of the TV, on the couch, were Karin and Yuzu. Their eyes were obviously fixated on the TV because their heads weren't moving. They were unnaturally still. Ichigo began to slowly walk up behind them nervously.

"Come sit with us Ichigo." this time Yuzu had spoken. Her voice came off even more unsettling than Karin's since she had turned her head around and was now staring at Ichigo with blank grey eyes! Her pupils had disappeared!

Ichigo shuddered at the sight and actually mustered up the courage to speak despite this fear. "Uh… no thanks… I'm good. Thank you though." he started running for the stairs that would take him to his room! As he passed the TV, he got a more clear look at what was on the screen. It was a set of three eyes! The symbol was pulsing with red light and warping rapidly!

"What the hell is that!?" he thought to himself. The longer this continued, the looser his grip on reality became! He was starting to go insane!

He had made it to his room and was now sitting on his bed, panting. He could hear whispering all around him and occasional screams that echoed into nothingness!

"What is this?! What's happening?! Who am I?" Even is his own room, the walls began to warp and move! The grainy red texture crept back over the surface of everything! Silence fell once more.

Ichigo heard a rumbling followed by silence. The noise had echoed from all around and filled his ears, leaving him unable to determine where the sound came from. The rumbling would happen again and again until the echoing faded, and Ichigo could tell where it was coming from now. His closet! He stood up slowly, heart pounding with dread, and started walking towards the closet. As he got to the door of it, the rumbling was interrupted by a slashing sound! Silence followed.

"R-Rukia?" Ichigo half whispered. "Are you in there?" he slid the door off to the side to reveal a pale skinned, dead eyed Rukia laying on the second shelf of his closet! Her throat had been slit and blood had been splattered on the closet walls! Her white kimono had been soaked with blood from the neck down! Ichigo was taken back by shock and had walked backward into his bed. His eyes began to dart around his room in horror! The calm feeling he had from being home was now utterly gone, leaving him to feel the terror of when he was outside!

"Ichigoooo." whispered a voice. Something had entered Ichigo's mind. Half aware of what he was doing, he stood stood up and walked over to the closet. With complete disregard for Rukia's lifeless body, he stuck his head into the closet and looked into the darkness that was to his left. His heart sank, yet he didn't run! Whatever this was had complete control of him! In the darkness, a glowing set of three red eyes… the same ones he had seen on the T.V., loomed with sinister energy! CRACK! SPAT! A piece of cloth had extended from the darkness, and thrust down on to Rukia's corpse with such force that is broke the shelf and sent blood flying everywhere!

"AHHHH!" Ichigo sat bolt upright in bed! He was covered in cold sweat and still hyperventilating! That was a dream?! His entire world had been perverted and manipulated by something and it was just a dream?! And it was so real! That had to have been real!

After getting his bearings on reality and calming down, Ichigo wondered if Rukia was in his closet. He got up to see if she was there. To his dismay, she wasn't!

"Oh hell no!" a glimmer of hope and she's gone again! "Screw this! I need to see Urahara!"

As quickly and carelessly as he could, Ichigo threw on street clothes and bolted out of his room, and poured down the stairs!

"Ichigo!? Where are you going?" asked his dad an Karin in unison as he flew through the living room.

"No time to explain! Gotta go! Bye!"

"Oo.kayyyy?" Said Karin.

Ichigo swept across his yard into the pre-sunrise light. He stopped so survey his reality.The atmosphere was chilly and damp. Still homey. Everything seemed normal. Good!

He sprang back into a fullon sprint down the street toward Urahara's shop!

'Dammit Rukia! Where are you?!?'


End file.
